Faith and Trust
by Goddess Trinity
Summary: WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!  Rick Taylor's thoughts and memories right before he puts the Terror Mask on.  When Rick Taylor lies dying in a puddle of his own blood, a white bone mask makes him an offer he just can't refuse.  Rated M for blood/language.


_I do not own "Splatterhouse" or any of the characters associated with the game. "Splatterhouse" belongs to its rightful owners, and I claim no copyright. _

_**This fic contains spoilers: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**_

_**

* * *

**_

"_Make a wish? Okay. I want us to be together until the end of the World."_

The words constantly rang through Rick Taylor's head, the words echoing through his cloudy and muddled mind. He couldn't understand why it was so dark, and why he was in such pain. Something cold and wet was slithering underneath him, and it was most uncomfortable. He was already cold enough; he didn't need this cold substance further adding to the chill. But at the same time, he felt sick and feverish, like he had the flu or some kind of illness.

Weakly, he opened his eyes, taking notice that his vision was blurry. With some form of realization, Rick realized that he was missing his glasses. However, through his blurry vision, he noticed the growing red puddle forming all around him, the left side of his face lying in the substance.

The substance smelled thick and coppery, almost like…

"…_Blood?_" Rick thought weakly as he lifted his head as high as he could off of the ground, his eyes looking around as best as they could. Pain spiked through his abdomen, and he wisely stayed the rest of his body onto the ground upon which he lay.

"…_What happened…?_" Rick thought as he watched the puddle grow bigger, spreading towards a picture that lay on the ground. It was an odd place for a picture to end up, but Rick recognized it right away as a picture of himself and…

"_Jenny…_" Rick thought dismally as tears of pain and sorrow began to fill his eyes. Now he knew what was wrong. Now he knew why he was in such pain and why his glasses were gone.

Now he knew that the puddle that was now up to the picture was made of.

Rick's head began to throb as the painful and fairly recent memory began to fill his head, replaying itself like a movie stuck on rewind…

* * *

_Rick and Jenny had been staring at a picture of a woman…A woman who looked exactly like her, right down to the same hair color as her; the only difference was that the woman was wearing hers up in a bun, while Jenny wore hers in a messy ponytail. They had both been mesmerized by the uncanny likeness, and had been more than startled when a deep, elderly voice called out to them, causing Rick and Jenny to jump. _

"_I don't remember inviting __**two**__ of you." The elderly man said as he stepped into the lobby of the West Mansion. The man certainly looked old; his hair, which was standing up completely, was all gray; no other shade of colors whatsoever. His features were wrinkled and creased with age, and from the look on his face, he seemed annoyed. His arms were crossed behind his back, his white lab coat immaculately clean, his tie tied perfectly. _

_Rick took notice when he raised a single eyebrow upon laying his eyes upon Jenny, and it sent chills up his spine. _

"_Oh, ah – Doctor West…I'm Jennifer Willis! You contacted me about doing an interview for the student newspaper? To give your side of the story about the work you're doing at the medical school?" Jenny said cheerfully, reminding the old man about just what she had come for. Rick had to wonder if his old age had caught up to him and he had forgotten about the interview with Jenny. _

_But there was something…off-putting…about this Doctor West. Was it the dark glare that he was giving Rick, or was it the almost lustful one he was giving to Jenny? Rick was right in coming along to protect Jenny; many of the student's at the university claimed that Doctor West was a mad scientist, kidnapping students and turning them into monsters or God knows what. Granted, he knew there were no such things as monsters, but hearing the rumors about Doctor West was enough to cause Rick to accompany Jenny along to the mansion. _

"_And your companion?" Doctor West said, darting a glance over at Rick. His eyes…They were strangely spooky…_

"_Rick Taylor, sir. I hope you don't mind…" Rick said as politely as he could, holding out a hand to Doctor West. Doctor West merely glared at it like it was some sort of disgusting, dead thing, refusing to take his hands out from behind him to shake Rick's hand. Rick took the hint and his hand dropped back to his side, the paranoid feeling coming back ten-fold. _

"…_but Jen and I have a date tonight…So it kinda made sense for me to just…" Rick continued, feeling Jenny's warm hands upon his arm as she gently nuzzled him, Rick pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. _

"_I understand. You wanted to protect your girlfriend…in case anything happened to her." Doctor West said, his voice dark and filled with mild amusement. Rick felt Jenny cling closer to him, the aura of uneasiness radiating off of her like a plague as she stared at Doctor West. How did he know of Rick's true intentions? _

"_Very noble of you…" Doctor West sneered at Rick, unease and fear spiking through Rick._

"…_and also completely futile." Doctor West continued, his eyes narrowing at Rick and Jenny. Rick had the gut feeling that something terrible was about to happen, and just as he was about to take Jenny's hand and lead her out of the mansion, perhaps explaining to Doctor West that maybe they should come back another time, Doctor West spoke again, this time in words unfamiliar to Rick and Jenny._

"_Ph'nglui mglw'nafh cthulhu fhtagn!" he uttered in a language Rick or Jenny had never heard before. Seconds after he spoke, Jenny looked past Doctor West, her eyes growing wide and becoming filled with disbelief. As soon as Rick looked past him, he saw why. _

_Two, dark-skinned, massive creatures sauntered up next to Doctor West, the sounds of their feet pounding on the floor loud and echoing throughout the lobby. They were truly gruesome; multiple, sickly colored eyes, claws that looked capable of ripping through metal, razor-sharp teeth gleaming a sickly white in the light. Doctor West raised his arms up into the air, glaring hatefully at Rick as the creatures stopped next to him. _

_One of them shook its head back and forth, drool flying onto the floor as it roared and snapped its teeth at Rick and Jenny. _

_Jenny screamed loudly and recoiled away from the snapping jaws as looks of terror and disgust filled their faces. _

"_Rick!" Jenny shrieked, Rick acting upon instinct and pushing her behind him, acting as a shield. He raised his hand up in front of him, a feeble attempt to keep the monsters at bay and away from the love of his life. Rick returned Doctor West's hateful glare with one of his own, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he got ready to beat the ever-loving shit out of these creatures and the man who had summoned them. _

_Doctor West looked at the creature to his left, giving it a weird sort of nod. And just as fast as a snake lunges for its prey, the creature bolted forward, its arm darting past Rick and snatching Jenny by the wrist. _

_With a horrified scream, Jenny was pulled away from Rick, her scream ringing loudly in his ears. Acting upon sheer instinct, Rick darted forward, fist raised as he attempted to sock the creature in the face. _

_In his haste, he had completely forgotten about the second monster, and it rushed towards him, its clawed hand making a beeline right for his abdomen…_

_He suddenly stopped as an unimaginable pain filled his gut, and felt himself being lifted from the ground. Rick noticed that he was…impaled upon the monster's claw, and the monster had lifted him up with little effort. It glared at him with sick eyes as it held Rick up in the air like a skewered fish. _

"_RICK!" Jenny shrieked in terror as he fought against the monster restraining her, screaming in pure horror as the monster flung Rick off to the side like it was flicking a piece of earwax off of it's claw. Rick went flying through the air, blood issuing from his punctured stomach like the tail of a comet. With a loud crash, he collided with the golden coffins in the middle of the lobby, the very ones he had been admiring just minutes ago. One of the smaller ones toppled over into the largest one, causing it to pop open and reveal a dusty, withered skeleton adorning a white bone mask. _

_As Rick hit the ground, his glasses flying from his face and the lenses shattering, Jenny could be heard struggling against the monster, hitting it with her bag. The contents of her bag went spilling to the floor, and the monster didn't seem to notice or care that she was pummeling it with all that she had, pulling against it to try and get to Rick. _

_The skeleton that had been inside of the coffin dissolved into dust, the mask clattering to the floor about two feet away from where Rick lay, blood beginning to pool beneath him. With as much effort as he could, he raised himself up to look at the scene that played out before him. _

_Doctor West and the monsters were leaving the lobby, Doctor West walking with the air of a gentleman leaving a fancy dinner party. Jennifer was struggling against the monster holding her hostage, her bag flailing as she tried desperately to get to Rick. _

_It wasn't the agonizing pain in his stomach that hurt Rick; it was the sound of Jenny screaming and crying his name, tears pouring down her beautiful face as she fought to free herself as she was dragged further and further away from Rick, who lay there in a puddle of his own blood. _

_The last thing he saw before his vision went dark was Jenny screaming and crying, her face in pain and denial. _

_

* * *

_Rick reached feebly for the picture that lay mere inches away from him, blood dripping from his fingers. The only thing he succeeded in doing was letting his hand drop back into the puddle of blood, droplets of it splashing onto the picture and obscuring the image.

"…Jenny…I'm so sorry…" Rick whispered, suddenly feeling so very tired, so very far away from home. Tears of defeat and pain rolled down his face as he allowed his head to drop back down into the cooling puddle of blood. The pain would be over soon; he only hoped that Jenny would be alright, and that he would see her again very soon.

Rick closed his eyes, wondering just how much longer he was going to have to endure the pain.

"_He took your girl, Rick._" A deep voice called out to him, causing Rick to open his eyes and look around. He was alone, as far as he could tell; his vision was unbearably blurry with tears and the lack of his glasses.

"_He took your dreams._" The voice spoke again, Rick closing his eyes. He remembered the diamond engagement ring that he still had in his pocket…He had been planning to propose to Jenny tonight during the concert…

"_And he took your life._" The voice said, Rick looking up above him; there was nobody there, yet the voice felt like it was all around him. Who was there? Who was talking to him?

"_Doctor Henry West MD…he took it all. Only thing you got left is your soul…" _The voice said, this time right in front of Rick. With eyes that were blurry and not wanting to comply, Rick looked in front of him, his eyes having trouble focusing on the white blob that was in front of him. As they came into focus, he realized that it was the bone mask that had been on the skeleton. It was lying on its side, its grin eerie as his blood began to spread towards the mask.

"…_and that belongs to __**me**__._" The voice said, sounding slightly pleased at the idea of Rick's soul belonging to it. Rick couldn't tell if it was the fact that he was about to die or something else, but it sounded like the voice was coming from…the mask. His eyes widened as the masked grinned at him, the voice issuing from the mask.

"_Who am I? Let's just say I'm God; your God…least, the only God that's listening right now._" The mask said as Rick, with weak arms, strained to push and pull him upwards and towards the mask. God, he wanted to just die! He just wanted the pain to end so that he could see Jenny again! The blood was slippery as it pooled around the mask, making it difficult for Rick to get up.

"_What do I want? Ah, same as any God; a little faith…for without faith, I am nothing…" _The mask continued as Rick successfully pushed his torso up and off of the floor. As soon as he got one knee up underneath him, a horrible feeling filled him as his organs ripped through his punctured stomach, his intestines spilling to the floor with a wet, meaty smack.

"…_And without me, you're __**fucked**__._" The mask said, its statement filled with malice as Rick fell face-first to the floor, splashing blood onto the gleaming white mask. Rick didn't think he could go on…he was going to die, and that was that.

"_She doesn't have to die._" The mask whispered, spurning Rick into a desperate drag towards the mask. Rick was barely focusing as he felt his hand grasp the hard, bone mask. Did it know about Jenny? What did it mean by that? Could it…Could it save Jenny?

"_I can help you; I can heal your wounds._" The mask fairly crooned as Rick rolled onto his back, resting the mask onto his heaving chest. Pain soared through his entire being as Rick coughed lightly, blood spattering out from his mouth as he winced in pain.

"_We can save her; if you show me some faith…_" The mask whispered as Rick raised the mask up above him with trembling hands, the light gleaming through its eyes and mouth holes.

"…_If you trust me, if you put me on…_" The mask whispered in a tone mixed with excitement and malice.

"…_Jenny…_" Rick thought as he felt the particular feeling of drifting off into a deep sleep begin to take him over.

With trembling hands, a soft sigh of defeat, and a heart filled with faith, trust, and love for Jenny…

He put the mask on.


End file.
